Indonesia is ‘double-dealing’ on media freedom, says RSF

“We firmly condemn the police violence against Yance Wenda and we call for an investigation so that both the perpetrators and their superiors, who endorse their brutality, can be brought to justice,” said Benjamin Ismaïl, the head of Reporters San Frontiéres (RSF) Asia-Pacific desk.

“Indonesia is in the bottom third of the 2017 World Press Index and this beating, the latest in a long series of attacks on media freedom in West Papua in recent months, constitutes yet further evidence that it did not deserve to host the World Press Freedom Day celebration.

“UNESCO and all the political figures gathered in Jakarta must condemn the violence and ask President Joko Widodo to stop playing a double game that consists of promoting media freedom with the international community while continuing to crack down in West Papua.”

-Partners-

Media freedom lackingIndonesia is ranked 124th out of 180 countries in the 2017 World Press Freedom Index that RSF published on April 26. It is not unusual for both local and foreign journalists to be threatened anonymously or by the authorities and to be forced to censor themselves, RSF said.

Last week, police in West Papua seized TV reporter Richardo Hutahaen’s camera and deleted its contents. Hutahaen, who heads an association of Papuan TV journalists, and two colleagues also received death threats after covering a court hearing on a dispute between local politicians.

Due to the alarming media freedom situation in West Papua, the harassment of journalists and the frequent refusal to give press visas to foreign journalists, human rights organisations plan to protest during the events organised by UNESCO and the Indonesian government.

‘Open the door’Pacific Media Centre director Professor David Robie called on the Indonesian authorities to “honour” the president’s promise and “open the door to genuine press freedom and an end to human rights violations against journalists and the indigenous Papuan people.”

Meanwhile, the Australian Press Council has issued a call to all media organisations, editors and journalists in the country to stand firm against what it said is “the alarming erosion of access to information, privacy and protection of sources”.

“In light of the litany of threats to free speech, press freedom and to journalists themselves, it is now, more than ever, time for media outlets to work energetically and cooperatively together with the Australian Press Council to safeguard these pillars of our democracy,” said Council Chair David Weisbrot in a statement.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has subsequently called for Indian authorities to identify and discipline the New Delhi police officers who assaulted Bose.

“Authorities should swiftly discipline the police officers responsible for assaulting Meghnad Bose simply for doing his job,” CPJ Asia Program Director Steven Butler said from Washington, D.C. “The police should train officers to protect the legal activities of journalists, and not to harass them.”

Pacific Media Watch sources on the ground in Indonesia said police are expected to try and stop the West Papua protest at World Press Freedom Day today.